Yesterday Ill. Gov. Jay Robert “J. B.” Pritzker (D) delivered a budget address promising to raise taxes on Illinois taxpayers to pay lavish Illinois government pensions.
From the speech, “We will dedicate a portion of the new fair income tax – in other words, hundreds of millions of dollars – to the pension system, over and above our required pension payments. We will infuse new assets into the system up front.”
This is a promise to slam taxpayers with the Pritzker Amendment, a graduated state income tax increase on the Illinois Middle-class. The statement means driving more taxpayers out of their homes. Worst of all though, is that it makes it harder on future generations to live in Illinois. It is an accepted fact that 20 cents of every dollar taxpayers send the state will go toward public sector pensions. By taking out billions of dollars in debt and kicking the can down the road again, that future number could be even higher.
Jim Tobin, President of Taxpayers United of America, offered more realistic solutions. “Cut the pensions, put all new hires in a 401(k) style plan, and allow local governments to declare bankruptcy. I have said this for years, but and here we are. Moody’s estimates the government pension funds are $250 billion in debt, and everything J.B. has proposed will just make things worse in the long run.”
